Safety Management Status among Nurses Handling Anticancer Drugs: Nurse Awareness and Performance Following Safety Regulations

This study identified the actual conditions for safe anticancer drug management among nurses and the relationship between level of awareness and performance of anticancer drug safety regulations in terms of preparation, administration, and disposal. The respondents were 236 nurses working with chemotherapy in wards and outpatient clinics in five hospitals in and near Seoul. Safety regulations provided for the anticancer drug the Occupational Safety Health Administration (OSHA, 1999), as modified for an earlier study, were used. The results showed that the level of awareness and performance on the anticancer drug safety regulations indicate their preparation ($3.38{\pm}0.55$, $2.38{\pm}0.98$), administration ($3.52{\pm}0.46$, $3.17{\pm}0.70$), general handling and disposal ($3.33{\pm}0.54$, $2.42{\pm}0.90$) on a scale 0 to 5. Also, there were significant differences in job positions, work experience, type of preparation, and continuing education and a positive relationship between the level of awareness and nursing performance. Thus, nurses should receive continuing education on the handling of anticancer drugs to improve the level of performance following safety regulations.